You know what? I'll agree with the core premise: There shouldn't be biological gender options. Or any gender options at all, for that matter. You're telling a story, that story has a main character, and being able to alter significant elements of the main character will alter how that story is perceived (see how, despite the exact same dialogues and stats, people view the female and male Star Rail protags as having vastly different personalities, or the same with the Fire Emblem protags).
Tell the story you intend to tell, don't be cowed into making a selector or a slider. If it's the story of a boy's coming-of-age hero journey, make it so. If it's the story of a girl's coming-of-age heroine's experience, make it so.
You're telling a story, that story has a main character,
DQ3 is one game where that is not really the case. All of the party members are replaceable character classes with no story other than one point that requires you to give away a merchant. The MQ goes through a story but has no characterization other than being "the child of Ortega" which barely matters. Other than that, the game is just a series of local subquests that anyone could go through. There was even a bug that allowed you to get rid of the MQ if I remember correctly.
The player could choose the MQ to be a boy or a girl. It changes the sprite and some dialogue, and that's it. Taking that out? Well, it's annoying. It's the loss of a feature. Taking it out to appease Current Year stupidity, which it looks like they're doing, is retarded.
You know what? I'll agree with the core premise: There shouldn't be biological gender options. Or any gender options at all, for that matter. You're telling a story, that story has a main character, and being able to alter significant elements of the main character will alter how that story is perceived (see how, despite the exact same dialogues and stats, people view the female and male Star Rail protags as having vastly different personalities, or the same with the Fire Emblem protags).
Tell the story you intend to tell, don't be cowed into making a selector or a slider. If it's the story of a boy's coming-of-age hero journey, make it so. If it's the story of a girl's coming-of-age heroine's experience, make it so.
DQ3 is one game where that is not really the case. All of the party members are replaceable character classes with no story other than one point that requires you to give away a merchant. The MQ goes through a story but has no characterization other than being "the child of Ortega" which barely matters. Other than that, the game is just a series of local subquests that anyone could go through. There was even a bug that allowed you to get rid of the MQ if I remember correctly.
The player could choose the MQ to be a boy or a girl. It changes the sprite and some dialogue, and that's it. Taking that out? Well, it's annoying. It's the loss of a feature. Taking it out to appease Current Year stupidity, which it looks like they're doing, is retarded.